Paris to remove close to a million ‘love locks’ left by romantic couples on Pont de Arts bridge

May 30, 2015

Guess it's true what they say—nothing lasts forever (even if you try to secure it with a padlock).

The famous love locks bridge in Paris, Pont des Arts, where couples go to secure a padlock with their names on it onto the bridge before throwing the key into the Seine river as a sign of their love, has been an attraction for lovers around the world for years.

But it looks like this romantic act has come to an end.

The city council has announced that they are tearing down the famous bridge on Monday.Sacre bleu, indeed.

It's estimated that close to a million padlocks, weighing roughly 45 tons, are expected to be cut off because the bridge has become a safety hazard after part of it collapsed into the river last year due to its heavy weight.

The city council said this weekthat the several hundred thousand padlocks in places around Paris cause "long-term heritage degradation and a risk for visitors' security." The metal grills on the bridge's sides will be replaced by paintings over the summer, before plexi-glass panels are put in place later this year.

"We want Paris to remain the capital of love and romance," Bruno Julliard, Paris' deputy mayor, said, adding that there would be new initiatives encouraging people to express their love in other ways.

The city had already taken steps to slowly encourage tourists to find other ways to proclaim love, including a Twitter campaign, #lovewithoutlinks, where couples could post selfies of themselves on the bridge to promote their romance, but not a lot of people were a fan.